The Assassin Chronicles: Showdown on New Haven
by GT
Summary: The 30-year-old Suzuka's plans for retirement are interrupted by Striper, a Ctarl-Ctarl assassin trying to make a name for herself by killing Twilight Suzuka! (Slight Shadowrun crossover.)
1. Part I

The Assassin Chronicles: Showdown on New Haven (Part I)

**The Assassin Chronicles:**

**Showdown on New Haven (Part I)**

© 2001 GT gt@dreamsmith.org

_ Twilight._

_ It is a time of transition, from the darkness to the light... or from the light, to the darkness._

_ In ancient times, either the sun or the stars ruled the sky. Twilight was the brief time when they changed places, at dawn or especially at dusk._

_ But look out the viewport now. The sun and the stars share the sky together. The sun shines brightly, but the blackness of night remains._

_ In space, there is no day or night. Twilight is eternal..._

She awoke to noise and vibration. The roar of the retrorockets fire filled the cabin, and their vibration was punctuated by the turbulence of atmospheric winds as the cheap passenger liner descended. She rested her head back against the barely comfortable seat and listened to the creaking metal.

The passengers across the aisle, a young married couple, looked concerned. She resisted the urge to smile. She remembered her first time making planetfall. She looked across the aisle into the huge, frightened eyes of the young woman with whom she had exchanged the occasional pleasantry during the trip. "Don't worry," she said, "it's perfectly normal. We'll be safely on the ground in a minute."

The woman looked both relieved and grateful, although still a bit nervous. "Thank you. I guess you're an old hand at this, huh?"

Suzuka looked out the viewport as the last of the wispy clouds streaked by, and the planet's surface rose up to greet the new arrival. "Yes. In my line of work, you never stay in one place long."

One could easily cut hours off the length of most interplanetary journeys. It would not require faster thrusters, or better Munchausen drives, or any other technological improvements. It wouldn't require better pilots or fancy navigation, either. If it was that simple, it would already have been done.

To cut the length of interplanetary journeys would require something far more difficult, she mused as she waited in line at customs. One would have to cut the red tape.

On most jobs, she didn't bother with it. She slipped into and out of spaceports without notice, never leaving any trace of her passage. But sometimes deception is better than stealth. A fake passport establishes a fake identity on most planets, far better than any other form of documentation. But it's useless if there's no record of it ever having gone through customs. Those records can be faked, but why bother when it's so easy to simply walk through customs and get the officials to do the work for you?

After a short eternity, she arrived at the head of the line and handed her passport to a bored looking young man in what passed for an official uniform on New Haven Prime. He barely glanced at it as he swiped it through the scanner.

"Khan, Susan. First time on New Haven, Ms. Khan?"

"Yes, it is." This information was on the passport, of course. Why customs agents across the galaxy felt the need to parrot the information of the screen in front of them was beyond her. As if someone presenting a fake passport wouldn't know what it said. Maybe they caught the occasional amateur this way. She'd never seen it happen, though, and she'd been in lots of spaceports.

"Business or pleasure?"

"Pleasure. I'm on vacation." New Haven was the tourist mecca of the sector. Among other things...

"How long will you be staying?"

"Two weeks, maybe less if I get bored."

"That's not likely here, ma'am. We're the Vacation Destination," he said, in a sad parody of the commercials played before holovids across the sector. It was probably in a script somewhere, so that each customs agent managed to slip the Tourist Bureau's slogan into each conversation with each person who ever arrived on the planet, to beat an already overdone ad campaign even further into their skulls. However, unlike the cheery and bubbly actors in the holovids, from him it sounded like a sad fact of life. In a way, she supposed it was.

"I'm sure," she said, and gave him a sympathetic smile.

He somehow managed a smile in return. "Enjoy your stay on New Haven, Ms. Khan."

"Thank you," she said. _Not likely_, she thought as she left.

A young boy played with two toy spaceships, running up and down the aisles of the subway car, making _whooshing_ noises and explosions as the battle raged for control of the spaceways. Every once in a while, his mother would look up from the fashion magazine she was reading to tell him to settle down. Why, Suzuka wasn't sure, since it didn't seem to have any effect on his behavior.

She wondered how old the boy was. He seemed about the same age as another young boy she'd known, many years ago. But that little boy had had no time for play. He'd been forced to grow up young. Much like herself. By now, he'd be nearly 20, a young man who'd never really been a little boy. How would he be different if he'd had a real childhood? For that matter, how would she?

The subway car lurched as it began to quickly decelerate to subsonic speeds. They'd be emerging from the tunnels into Paradise City, New Haven's capital, in a minute. The sudden change in speed caught the boy off guard, and he fell down, toy spaceships skittering across the floor of the subway car. One of them came to rest at Suzuka's feet. She picked it up and, smiling, offered it to the boy.

"Thank you, lady," he said as he took it from her.

Her smile faltered for a moment. _Lady? So I'm an old lady now, am I? _She resisted the urge to strangle the child. "You're welcome."

The subway car came to a rest, and everyone began filing out. "Bye-bye lady!" the boy said as departed.

She looked at her reflection in the window. She didn't look _that _old, did she? It occurred to her that she'd never really considered the possibility before. She'd always assumed that she'd never live to see thirty. Assassins don't worry about retirement plans.

There was a thought. Maybe it was time to retire, to get out of the business. Settle down somewhere and... and... what? She sighed. This was the only life she knew. She'd spent her childhood perfecting her techniques, to be the best assassin she could be, in hopes of one day avenging her parents' deaths. During all those years, she never once considered what she'd do with her life after accomplishing that goal.

She accomplished her goal nine years ago, and she still hadn't come up with a better idea of what to do with her life afterwards...

She checked into the hotel, and set the door computer to "Do Not Disturb" mode. She'd told the bellhop she was tired from her journey and would probably go straight to bed. But she had no intention of doing that.

She slipped out of her young-business-executive-on-vacation outfit and into her more traditional garb. Five minutes later, she was out on the street. She was sure no one had seen her leave. Nor would anyone see her return. As far as anyone was concerned, "Susan Khan" was asleep in her room. And that wasn't too far off. It was Twilight Suzuka that roamed the streets of Paradise City.

She headed towards the seedier part of town. The more down to earth city, where the real working New Haveners could be found, away from the prying eyes of the ubiquitous tourists. "Susan Khan" may have never been to New Haven, but Suzuka was all too familiar with the back-alleys of Paradise City.

She entered the part of town known to the locals as "Little Tokyo", after some ancient Japanese city no one had never seen but everyone thought they knew all about. She recognized an old street vendor, a small, grey-haired man with a large belly and a talent for cooking.

"_Konban wa,_" he said as Suzuka approached.

Suzuka's eyebrows furrowed. She looked up at the early afternoon sun. "A bit early for that, I think."

"Normally, I would agree, but I see Twilight approaching as I speak."

She smiled. "It's good to see you again, Kamura-san. How is the tempura today?"

"You tell me," he said, handing her a plate full.

She closed her eyes and smiled as she tasted it. "Excellent, as always. Thank the _kami _you're still here. What would we do without you?"

"Eat healthier food, if somewhat less enjoyable, I imagine. You always had a weakness for the fried foods."

"Shh," she cautioned. "We can't let my weaknesses be known on the street."

When he didn't laugh, she looked up from her plate. A serious expression had displaced his normal jovial look. "What is it, old friend?" she asked.

"What trouble have you gotten yourself into, Suzuka?"

"Nothing, so far. I've only just arrived. I'm going to be seeing Gold-Eye later, but I haven't accepted his job yet. I haven't even heard what it is."

"Who else knew you were coming?"

"No one, as far as I know. Why?"

"Someone was asking around about you the other day. She seemed to think you were on this planet already."

Suzuka's eyes narrowed. "Describe her."

"It was a Ctarl-Ctarl woman. Beyond that, it's hard to say. She had audaciously colored hair and wore red face-paint, with black stripes like a tiger."

Suzuka hissed.

"You know her, then."

She nodded. "Striper."

_To be continued..._


	2. Part II

The Assassin Chronicles: Showdown on New Haven (Part II)

**The Assassin Chronicles:**

**Showdown on New Haven (Part II)**

© 2001 GT gt@dreamsmith.org

_ The Ctarl-Ctarl. The lions of space. The wolves of the battlefield. Rulers of the greatest empire in the galaxy._

_ They are proud warriors. Proud of their strength and ferocity in combat. On their homeworld, in ancient times, there were many creatures larger and more powerful than a Ctarl-Ctarl. But the howls of a pack, hunting by moonlight, heralded the death of whatever prey they chose. Nothing, no matter how large or how strong, could face a pack of Ctarl-Ctarl and live._

_ But sometimes, one was born different._

_ Amongst these social creatures would be born a shy and solitary child. A child who shunned the pack. A child who liked to wander the forest alone. They would be encouraged to join the pack, to play with the other children, but on the night of their first transformation, their difference would become apparent to all, and the tables would turn. The pack would shun them._

_ In ancient times, they would go into the forests and live alone, away from the society that shunned them. It was not a punishment. They preferred solitude to the pack. And they could not hunt with the pack. Their hunting form was different. They could not run through the forest for hours, howling fear into their prey. They were built to hunt differently, silently. In stealth, they would sneak up to their prey, silently pounce, and kill their prey quickly. Often, their prey would die not ever knowing what killed them._

_ For a race of proud (and loud) warriors, such silence and sneakiness was disturbing. These natural assassins were shunned and feared. They were happy that these outcasts chose to live in the forests alone, away from them. They were happier still when the modern era dawned. Instead of disappearing into the forest, these outcasts would disappear into space._

_ Amongst the Ctarl-Ctarl, they had no place. But these natural assassins found their skills well received by some of the other races in space..._

Tikki circled on the edge of the crowd, silently stalking, in search of her prey. The scents of several hundred humans mixed with the smells of various foods being cooked and sold in the marketplace. Her sensitive nose easily separated the mix into the scents of each individual, if she chose to concentrate on any one. But it would do her no good today. She had yet to smell her latest prey. Today, she would have to rely on sight.

She had given up asking the local shopkeepers about her prey. None would admit to having seen her. And she believed them. She could smell the fear when one of them lied, but they had all been telling the truth. Perhaps her prey had not arrived on New Haven yet. No matter, she would come, sooner or later, and eventually she would come here. Unlike the fools who constituted the majority of her species, Tikki knew the value of patience.

She had spent years studying her Art, at first with another assassin, for a time with a Tao master, but mostly on her own. From her first teacher she learned the art of the kill, from her second she learned to enhance her natural senses and stealth to supernatural levels, but most of what she valued she had learned on her own. She learned to study her prey. People are predictable. People are creatures of habit. She had no need to chase her prey down. She would simply wait. Let the prey do all the work. Let the prey come to her. Watch, learn, kill.

A woman dressed in traditional Japanese garb approached the vendor Tikki had been watching the most closely, an old man selling fried food. _Creatures of habit, as always._ As Tikki watched, the woman began conversing with the old man. Tikki began filtering out the sounds of marketplace, trying to concentrate on the woman and the old man. Unfortunately, she was too far, and the marketplace was too noisy, but she thought she caught a word: "Striper."

_Ahh, you know of me, then. Good,_ she thought. _Most of my prey never know my name. This will be an interesting change. For both of us. How often does the hunter become the hunted, Twilight? Are you ready for your new role as prey?_

Tikki concentrated on the smell of tempura, and on the scent of the woman eating it. Satisfied, she disappeared into the crowd.

"Striper?" Kamura echoed. "I take it you know her, then."

"Only by reputation," Suzuka replied, "but it's an impressive reputation. Also, at least once she's taken a job I turned down."

"Not worth your time?"

"Not worth my life. They were offering quite a bit, but I still didn't feel it was worth the risk. Later, when I heard the target had been killed, and made a couple of inquiries. After I'd turned them down, the clients apparently hired Striper, and she did what I wouldn't attempt. Her fixer has been boasting about that ever since, and she's been getting some juicy contracts that would have otherwise been mine, I'm sure."

"Fixer?"

"A lot of people in the business don't deal directly with their clients. They have someone else that negotiates contracts for them. These agents are frequently called 'fixers' because they fix clients up with the people who can solve their problems, for a price, of course. Sometimes they simply get clients and assassins together, but sometimes they're the only face the client ever sees. Striper is like that. No one knows what she looks like beyond that she's Ctarl-Ctarl and paints herself up when she's working. It's an effective way of hiding her identity -- you met her, but if you met her without her face-paint and dyed hair, you probably wouldn't be able to tell her from any other Ctarl-Ctarl. She's probably in the marketplace right now, watching us."

Kamura looked startled by the thought. His eyes began scanning the crowd. They narrowed as they came to rest on one particular person. "There's a Ctarl-Ctarl woman staring at us right now."

Suzuka nodded. "Unfortunately, she's only the latest of more than half a dozen Ctarl-Ctarl women who've stopped and stared at us in the last minutes. It doesn't help that you run a fried food stand, Kamura-san. _Every _Ctarl-Ctarl that wanders within sniffing distance stops and stares at your stand."

Kamura sighed. "The price of being so talented. I love the Ctarl-Ctarl customers the best, they always buy so _much!_"

Suzuka looked down at her plate. "Are you complaining that I never buy enough from you?"

"Do you from anyone? You're so thin! You should eat more, Suzie." Kamura was the one person in the galaxy who could call her that and live. "Here, try some of the fish, it's fresh..."

"No, I couldn't. No no!" she further protested as Kamura put some fried fish on her plate. She sighed and took a bite. Kamura stared at her, eyes wide, waiting for her judgment. Her own eyes widened in amazement. "This is incredible! What is it?"

"Catfish."

"I, uhh... I've never had Catfish before. I'm surprised it's not more popular if it tastes like this."

"It's my own special batter recipe that makes it good. I could substitute just about anything and you wouldn't taste the difference."

A thought occurred to her. "Is this so you can hide the quality of your fish?"

Kamura waved the comment aside. "I don't sell fish, I sell my cooking skill. You're getting the same product no matter what raw materials I use to start."

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better."

"Not to worry, Suzie. I always give you the best."

Unfortunately, this was the least of Suzuka's worries.

When Suzuka left the marketplace, she didn't head back to her hotel. She began walking to the seaside district. She took a long, meandering course. _The scenic route_. Of course, the only sight she was interested in seeing was the person following her. Assuming she was being followed.

She didn't like this. Not one bit. Her knowledge of Striper's habits was sketchy at best, but what she knew of them suggested this was very out of character. Striper's victims didn't find out she was after them until it was too late, assuming they didn't simply die without ever knowing. But here, Striper had practically telegraphed the fact to her. It's almost like she was advertising the fact that she was after her.

_... like she was advertising the fact ..._

_ ... advertising ..._

Suzuka stopped dead in her tracks. "You bitch!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "You think you're better than me, and you want _everyone _to know it! You want _everyone _to see you humiliate me! Well, guess what, bitch, it ain't happening! You're dead meat, Striper! You here me? I'm going to turn you into a throw rug, and whenever anyone comes to visit, I'll tell them that's Striper they're walking on! What do you think of that?"

A voice echoed down the street. "You forgot to tell me what time of day you're going to kill me!"

Suzuka whirled around. There were half a dozen people in the street staring at her, and more just going about their business, as if they hadn't heard her outburst or the reply. None of them happened to be Ctarl-Ctarl.

"I don't care! I'm not playing games with you, Striper! I'll kill you the moment I see you!"

"Very well! Midnight, then! I'll see you at midnight!"

Suzuka ran down the street, trying to find the source of the voice, but it had echoed too well -- it could have come from anywhere. Cursing, she resumed walking, this time back to her hotel. She didn't detect anyone following her, but she hadn't previously, either. Striper was as stealthy as they said. It didn't matter. She was sure that Striper meant what she said. They'd see each other at midnight, and not a moment sooner.

As she walked back to her hotel, Suzuka realized something else. Somehow, she'd let Striper steal her trademark. Striper had told her when she was going to try to kill her. It was supposed to work the other way around. How had she let the tables be turned so completely?

She realized that in all her years, after all the times she had had people come after her, try to catch her, try to stop her, she had never really felt _hunted _before. She felt hunted now.

_Maybe I won't have to worry about retiring after all..._

**To be continued...**


	3. Part III

The Assassin Chronicles: Showdown on New Haven (Part III)

**The Assassin Chronicles:**

**Showdown on New Haven (Part III)**

© 2001 GT gt@dreamsmith.org

_ New Haven. Blessed with an idyllic climate, picturesque mountains, ample beaches, and legendary surf. Known for its lively nightlife, entertainment, and many casinos. The tourist mecca of the rimward sectors._

_ Every year, millions of tourists from across the galaxy visit. Frequently rich tourists, looking for a good place to spend their cash. They arrive, spend, and leave._

_ It is no wonder that ships leaving New Haven are never attacked by pirates, as their occupants will have no doubt already blown their cash, but it is rather remarkable that inbound ships are never attacked._

_ Of course, such attacks would deter tourism, so it would be in the best interest of New Haven officials to keep their system clear of pirates. However, the space forces protecting New Haven are relatively small, and their services are almost never required._

_ Why then do the pirates ignore this juicy pie?_

_ They don't, of course..._

Hanson looked out the picture window of his office. The sun was setting over the Western Sea, which sparked as sunlight reflected off the moving waves. The lights of the city were starting to come on, an artificial twinkling to contrast with nature's spectacle. His eyes scanned the twinkling florescent and neon cityscape before him. From the perspective of his office, over two hundred stories high, Paradise City appeared to be laid out at his feet, his own personal possession, to be used as he saw fit. In this case, appearance was not far from truth.

As he stared out the window, he heard the door to his office open and someone enter. He did not turn to see who it was. He had no need. Only one person could enter his office unannounced. She would wait patiently until he said something, knowing better than to disturb his thoughts.

"I take it you have news."

"Yes. We had confirmed that the man known as Gold-Eye was looking for an assassin. We need hardly speculate why, or who his intended target is."

Hanson chuckled. "Indeed. But this I already knew."

"Yes sir. But it appears that that is all from my last report that was accurate. The rest was, unfortunately, premature. When the assassin know as Striper arrived, we naturally assumed she was here to take his contract. However, Striper has not made any attempt to contact Gold-Eye."

"That you could detect," Hanson interjected.

"I assure you, sir, we would have detected it. Besides, another assassin has arrived on New Haven, and she contacted Gold-Eye shortly after arriving, a short text-only message simply confirming her arrival on New Haven and that she will be meeting with him at the appointed time and place. No mention of when and where that would be, however."

"Do we know anything about this new arrival?"

"Yes sir. Her name is Suzuka, although she's better known in the underworld by the street-name 'Twilight'. Apparently that's when she prefers to do her killing."

"How poetic. So, how do you plan to handle the situation?"

"I think the time has come to put Gold-Eye out of our misery."

"We've tried that before," Hanson reminded her. "He's just a bit too paranoid and definitely too well guarded for that."

"Ordinarily, I would agree. However, the situation at hand opens some new possibilities."

Hanson continued to look out the window as she outlined her plan. By the time she left, he could barely contain a smile. At last, he would dominate this city, and this planet with it. He watched the last bit of brightness fade from the horizon where the sun had sunk beneath the waves. Twilight's end...

Suzuka sat before the computer in her hotel room, reviewing news clippings about recent events on New Haven. She had found over the years that getting familiar with recent events was often useful before meeting with a client. They were often relevant, especially since these days she wasn't bothered by smalltimers -- anyone who wanted and could afford her services was a major league player.

Of course, it didn't matter what planet you were on, newspapers were always inaccurate and distorted. However, one could glean useful information from the angle of the slant. Here, it was obvious that the same corporations that controlled the casinos were also controlling the news. This was hardly news to Suzuka, who was no stranger to New Haven or its politics. Given this, however, she was having trouble interpreting the slant of a particular story about interstellar piracy.

Naturally, on a planet dependent on the tourist trade, one would expect that the local media would want to portray the image that travel to and from the planet is safe. And certainly this story did that, saying that pirate activity was almost unheard of in this system. However, no matter how true that is, people still feel safer if they see space forces regularly patrolling the skies. So one would expect the people in power to campaign for more space forces, no matter whether they were necessary or not, right? So why was this article suggesting that space forces in the system should be reduced?

Her contemplation was interrupted by the alarm she had set. _One hour to midnight._ She put the computer to sleep, got up and began gathering her things. Two minutes later, she was striding out of the hotel into the streets.

She had allowed Striper to choose the time, but that left her the option of choosing the place. Where she went, Striper would have to follow, to be there when midnight came. Some of her victims had tried the same tactic, going to whatever stronghold they felt most secure in when the appointed time came. It never worked for them, but she was hoping she would make it work for her.

"Here, kitty kitty kitty..."

A look of irritation crossed Tikki's face, a face painted red with black stripes, as it always was when she made a kill. Her prey was going out for a late night stroll? She should have anticipated this. This was the first time she'd ever let prey know it was prey before the kill, but she should have guessed that something like this would occur. Her prey was beginning its run well before the pounce.

Tikki divided her concentration between tracking her prey and staying unseen. Her lips moved, silently mouthing a Tao chant while she slipped from shadow to shadow in pursuit of her prey. She stayed well back, out of direct sight, following her prey by scent.

As she followed, she attempted to determine where they were heading. The prey was heading into one of the less lively parts of the city, the area with all the museums. Like everything else in Paradise City, they were open day and night, but they were significantly less busy at night. Most people looked elsewhere for entertainment after dark. Was her prey looking for a quiet spot where they could face each other alone, without witnesses?

It had become impossible to hide in the crowd, seeing as how there wasn't any crowd anymore. This presented Tikki with little problem, however. Her natural ability to hide in shadows was formidable. Enhanced with Tao magic, she was virtually invisible. She began closing the distance between herself and her prey.

Suzuka entered the open square in the center of the museum district. There was a fountain in the center, surrounded by a square pool, with four obelisks, one at each corner. The obelisks had strange hieroglyphics on the sides, and each was topped by a pyramid shape, coming to a point a dozen feet in the air. Neither the height nor the lack of a flat surface on top stopped Suzuka from leaping into the air and landing deftly on the top of the obelisk, balancing effortlessly on the tip.

She turned and looked around the square. Too much open ground, well lit by moonlight, and no crowd to hide in. No matter how stealthy she was, there was no way Striper could approach her unseen here.

Suddenly, a shadow detached itself from the edge of the square and shot towards one of the other obelisks. One quick bounce, and it was on top of the obelisk. A figure cloaked in black, crouched down, hands and feet resting on the pyramid's four sides. The hood of the cloak fell back, revealing a face painted blood red, with black stripes in a pattern like the face of a tiger. The lips parted in a grin, revealing Ctarl-Ctarl fangs. "Twilight, you have been interesting prey, but all hunts must sometime end, one way or the other."

"Fine, let's end this, Striper. One way, or the other." Suzuka drew her sword, a huge instrument of death that was no less lethal for being made of wood. She had her own techniques, and her own type of magic, to see to that.

Striper looked up at the moon. When she looked back at Suzuka, her eyes were... different. She was growling, and seemed to be growing larger by the second. She screamed and leaped from her obelisk, straight at Suzuka. Her cloak shredded into pieces as she burst out of it, transforming in midair...

**To be continued...**


	4. Part IV

The Assassin Chronicles: Showdown on New Haven (Part IV)

**The Assassin Chronicles:**

**Showdown on New Haven (Part IV)**

© 2001 GT gt@dreamsmith.org

  


  


_It was in the year 158 of the Toward Stars calendar that the power of the Kei Pirates started to wane. The calamitous loss of several key leaders brought about their ongoing decline._

_But Nature abhors a vacuum. Rival pirate groups from surrounding areas of space began expanding their own power, taking over territory and resources from the diminished pirate guild. The decline of one group's fortunes led to the rise of the fortunes of others -- those quick and ruthless enough to capitalize on the Kei Pirates' weakness._

_Sometimes the conflict was obvious, as with the much publicized space battles between the Kei and Bahn Pirates. Other times, the conflict was far more subtle, occurring in a series of takeovers of shell corporations, back-room deals, and silent murders, without drawing the attention of the public eye._

_The Rosu Pirates are not known for their subtlety. This is not because they are not subtle. Rather, it is because are subtle enough to not be widely known. Even their own members are largely ignorant of the true extent of their guild's power and influence across the rimward sectors, and beyond._

_It is now the year 167 of the Toward Stars calendar. Behind the scenes, they lurk, pulling the strings of officials, groups, corporations, and governments. Their light is invisible, unseen, but it waxes brighter than it ever has before..._

  


  


Striper screamed and leaped from her obelisk, straight at Suzuka. As she sailed through the air, her form began to change. Pieces of shredded clothing filled the air like confetti as her beast form exploded outwards. Suzuka brought up her bokudo and held it before her, set to split Striper in two, but with one quick swipe of a paw the sword was batted aside. But Suzuka was quick, too, and leaped sideways off her obelisk before Striper could land on top of her. Instead, Striper sailed past to land deftly on her feet in the square. She quickly turned around and roared.

Suzuka rolled as she landed in the square and quickly bounced to her feet, spinning to face Striper. As she did, she took in Striper's new form. She had seen Ctarl-Ctarl transform into beast-form before, but those she had seen had always transformed into a large, wolf-like creature. Her old friend Aisha Clan-Clan transformed into a huge white wolf-like form with black tiger stripes. Striper had black tiger stripes, but her fur was blood red, and what's more, she had more of the appearance of a tiger than just the stripes. Her entire form was feline, and larger than she remembered Aisha being. Striper rested on four huge paws, with no obvious claws, but Suzuka remembered seeing claws while Striper was leaping at her. Retractable claws, then; in to move silently, out to shred her prey. How convenient.

Striper leaped again, and Suzuka rolled sideways, bringing her sword around as she did in an attempt to split open Striper's side. But Striper suddenly dropped to the ground, much more quickly than the laws of physics would allow, and leaped towards Suzuka again from a different direction. As she dived sideways, Suzuka realized she could not predict where Striper would land when she leaped -- she was using some sort of magic to control her trajectory, changing course in mid-air without touching anything. It was the second surprise on the night, hot on the heals of the first. She had never heard of a Ctarl-Ctarl using Tao magic. She began to worry about what other surprises the cat might have in store for her.

_Well, two can play at that game,_ she thought. As she rolled to the side yet again and sprang to her feet, she shouted a word and amplified it with her will, sending a shock wave through the air towards Striper. The sonic attack caught Striper in midair, propelling her backwards towards the fountain. Striper changed her course, landing on top of one of the corner obelisks, but Suzuka was right behind her. She sliced through the base of the obelisk with her sword, and the entire obelisk fell backwards into the fountain.

Suzuka's eyes scanned the water, but Striper was nowhere to be seen. _What the hell? The water's not that deep._ She glanced around, quickly checking the tops of the other obelisks, the square, the nearby buildings. No Striper. She had disappeared.

_Damn. Not good. Not good at all. I know she's still watching me, waiting for me to give up, turn around, make some stupid mistake._ She looked back into the fountain at the pieces of the fallen obelisk. _Could she have been crushed under one of the falling blocks? That would be too convenient. Where could she be?_

Suzuka continued to stare into the water, watching the moonlight reflect on the gentle waves, still bouncing around after having been kicked up by several tons of granite falling into the fountain. As she looked at the moon's reflection in the waves, she imagined she could see a face. The fabled "Man In The Moon"? A pair of eyes looked back into hers. A pair of feline eyes.

She brought her sword up as Striper burst out of the water. Again, a great paw attempted to bat the sword aside, but Striper moved her sword quickly, twisting her grip slightly as she pulled quickly downwards, slicing into the paw. But the other paw swiped at her, and although she tried to dodge, she felt several sharp claws tear through her dress and into her side as she passed.

The two quickly turned to face each other, panting and staring into each others eyes. Suzuka kept both her hands on her sword, but as she moved her right arm downwards and pressed her elbow against her side, she felt the warm wetness of fresh blood. _Not good._ But lying on the ground between the two of them was most of a tiger-paw. Striper was standing on three legs, holding one foreleg in the air, where blood dripped from a mostly severed paw. Suzuka grinned.

"I think I got the best of that exchange, don't you?"

Striper snarled something inarticulate. But it didn't sound like she was impressed. In fact, it almost sounded like... laughter?

Suzuka got her third surprise of the night. As she watched in horror, the half-severed paw began to regrow. In a matter of seconds, it was whole again, and Striper placed it firmly on the ground, resuming a normal stance. She looked Suzuka in the eye and gave her a wide, toothy tiger-grin.

"Shit."

Suzuka was keenly aware of the expanding wetness on her right side. This fight was going to be over in a few minutes, one way or the other. She knew a little magic herself, but even she could only tolerate so much blood loss before loosing consciousness. She had to end this, now! But Striper was extremely fast, extremely strong, and capable of regenerating, possibly from anything short of an immediately lethal blow. _Now what?_

Striper suddenly charged. Suzuka leaped backwards, spinning in the air and taking off towards the buildings on the south side of the square. The museum district's famous planetarium was clearly visible, it's great dome silhouetted against the city's well lit skyline. It was time to test a theory.

As she approached the planetarium, she leaped up onto the roof, ducked to one side, then leaped back off. She watched Striper's lithe tiger form sail overhead to land on the roof where she had just been as she landed before the planetarium's front doors. She quickly bolted though them. She had verified earlier that the planetarium was open 24 hours. She thought it was funny that people would go indoors to look at the stars during the night, but after seeing how the lights of Paradise City drowned out the stars, even at midnight, she understood. In any case, she locked the doors behind her as she passed. _Every little bit helps._

She was almost completely across the lobby when she heard Striper crash through the glass doors. She didn't bother to look back, simply continuing down the hallway into one of the side exhibit rooms. It was a tiny theater, set up to show movies on a small screen, a short feature or two while one waited for the main show on the planetarium's big dome. She hit the button on the wall to start the presentation as she dashed by it. She didn't stop running until she was right up against the far side of the room, which was starting to come to life with the images of the short movie currently in the projector. As the majestic music started to fill the room, a huge blood red tiger walked into the theater.

Striper's lips pulled back, revealing huge fangs and razor-sharp teeth. There was no pretense at stealth now, her extended claws made a clicking noise as she walked slowly into the theater, grinning her toothy tiger-grin. Again, a snarl sounding almost like laughter emerged. She stared at Suzuka, at the front of the theater, with no way out except the way she came in. A way now blocked by her. There was nowhere left for her prey to run. She watched Suzuka's fragile form, holding a wooden sword, white dress slowly turning red from the blood flowing from her right side, giving that oh so sweet smell. And also turning a reddish orange from the light of the movie projector. The narrator's voice filled the room as the feature began.

"The Sun. No matter where you go in the galaxy, no matter what planet you visit, there is always one special star in the sky. The star that brings day to the world, that brings life. The stars have many names, but to local inhabitants, there is always one that gets that special title: The Sun."

Striper's eyes took in the image on the screen with a growing horror, as Suzuka slowly began to grin. She could see the change taking place. The Ctarl-Ctarl were nocturnal hunters, and their beast-form was closely tied to moonlight. One thing they could never do was maintain it in the face of the sun. Within moments, it was not a great tiger but a naked Ctarl-Ctarl woman standing before Suzuka.

"Shall we continue?" Suzuka asked. Not waiting for an answer, she leaped forward, her sword coming down in a giant overhead arc.

But Striper wasn't there when she landed. She bolted out the door. Suzuka began to run after her, but by the time she reached the square, she was starting to feel dizzy. The blood was flowing from her side faster than ever. _I can't run any more like this. It'll kill me._ She retreated back into the planetarium and made a vid-call.

  


Twenty minutes later, a car drove up before the planetarium. A woman in a red and white dress left the planetarium and got into the car, which sped off quickly. From the shadows, a Ctarl-Ctarl watched in hatred as it passed from sight.

  


Hanson sat at his desk, looking over earnings reports. The midday sun shined through his picture window, illuminating his office brightly. As he scanned the documents, looking for ways to squeeze additional profits out of his enterprises, his assistant entered the room.

"We have made contact with the assassin. She was willing to take part in our plan. In fact, she seemed quite enthusiastic about it. Apparently, she has a rather deep hatred for Twilight."

"Splendid. But are you sure she can kill her?"

"They apparently fought one another last night, and although neither killed the other, we were able to recover some blood from the scene, and it all appears to be one woman's. One human woman's, that is. Our intelligence also confirms a woman was treated for fairly serious wounds at a nearby hospital last night, using an ID with the name Susan Khan. The ID appeared legit, but we've tentatively flagged it as belonging to the assassin Twilight. We're currently tracking its use."

"You expect it will be used again?"

"Frankly, no. I suspect she destroyed it immediately after leaving the hospital. But you never know. We may get lucky."

"I don't believe in luck, Ms. Anders."

"Indeed, Mr. Hanson. My apologies. In any case, we have good reason to think our assassin almost killed Twilight last night, and may actually do so on the next attempt. Even if not, we don't really lose anything if she doesn't."

"I disagree. We may not lose any of our own people, but we'll lose an important opportunity. I want to make sure she succeeds, Ms. Anders. See to it that she does."

"As you say."

A few minutes after his assistant left, Hanson walked over to his picture window, overlooking Paradise City. The noonday sun beat down on it, waves of heat distorting it, causing the streets to slither, and the skyscrapers to dance.

"We make our own luck, my dear, as surely as we make our own worlds. Or should I say, as surely as we make worlds ours..."

  


  


**To be continued...**


End file.
